The Brookhaven leader., 1887-07-21

those Infamous soldiers. No! Paul WAS
not going to interfere with his own cor
onation. He was too glad to 60 see
him looking up in the face Of his execu-
toner, !, as the grim official draws the
sword, Paul calmly says:
lam now ready to be offered, and the time OF
my departure is at hand.
But l put my hand over my eyes. |
want not to see that last struggle. One
sharp, keen stroke, and Paul does go to
the banquet and Paul does dine with the
King.
What transition it wasl From the
malaria Of Rome TO the finest climate in
the universe-the zone Of eternal beauty
and health. His ashes were put into the
catacombs of Rome, but in one moment
the air of Heaven bathed from his soul the
last ache. From shipwleck, from dungeon,
from the biting pain of the elmwood
rods, from the sharp sword of the heads
man. he goes into the most brilliant as
semblage of Heaven, King among
Kings, multitudes of the sainthood rush
ing out :and stretching forth hands of
welcome; for do really think that as on
the right hand of God is Christ so on the
right hand of Christ Is Paul the second
great in Heaven.
He changed kings likewise. Before the
hour of death and UP to the last moment,
he was under Nero, the thick-necked, the
cruel-eyed, the filthy-lipped, the sculp-
tured features Of that man bringing
down TO US to this very day the horrible
possibilities Of his nature seated as he
was amidst pictured marbles Of Egypt,
under a roof adorned with mothcr-of-
pearl, in a dining-room which, by ma
chinery, was kept whirliGg day and night
with most bewitChing maEHiiicenCc, his
horses standing in stalls of solid gold,
and the ground around his palace lighted
at night by his victims, who had been
daubed with tar and pitch and then set on
fire to illuminate the darkness. That was
PauPs king. But the next moment he
goes INTO the realm of him whose reign is
love, and whose courts are paved with
love, and whose throne is set on
pillars of love, and whose scepter
is adorned with jewels of love and
whose palace is lighted with love, and
whose lifetime is an eternity of love.
When Paul was leaving so much on this
side the pillar Of martyrdom to gaiH SO
much on the other side, do YOU wonder at
the cheerful valcdic'orv Of the text:
The time of my departure is at hand.
Now, why can not all the old people Of
this congregation have the same holy
glee as that aged man had! Charles l..
when he was combing his head, found a
gray hair and he sent it TO the Queen as a
great joke; but old age is really no joke
at all. For the last forty years you have
been dreading that which ought to have
been an exhilaratlon. You say you most
fear the struggle at the moment the soul
and body part. But millions have endured
that moment, and why not we as well.
They got through with it, and so can we.
Beside this, all medical men agreo in say
ing that there is probably no struggle at
all at the last mOment-not so much pain
as the prick of pin, the seeming signs of
distress being altogether involuntary.
But you say:
at is the uncertainty of the future"
Now, child of God, do not play the infidel.
After God has filled the Bible till it can
things ahead, better not talk about uncer-
taintics. But you say:
81 can not bear to think of parting from
| friends here"
If you are old you have more friends in
Heaven than here. just take the census.
Take some large sheet of paper and begin
to record the names of those who have
emigrated to the other shore-the COM
panions Of your school days, your early
business associates, the friend of middle
| life and those who more recently went
away.
Can it be that they have been gone so
| long you do not care any more about
| them, and you do not want their society
Oh, no! There have been days when you
| have felt that you could not en-
| dure it another moment away from
their blessed panionship. They have
gone. You say you would not like to
bring them back to this world of trou BILE,
even if you had the power. It would not
do to trust you. God would not give you
resurre ction power. Before tomorrow
| morning you would be rattling at the
gates of the cemetery, crying to the de-
| parted:
"Come back to the cradle where you
slepti come back to the hall where you
| used to play! come back to the table
where you used to sitl" and there would
be great burglary in Heaven. No, no!
God will not trust you with resurrec ton
power, but he compromises the matter
and says:
"You can not bring them where you
are, but you can go where they are"
They are more lovely now than ever
Were they beautiful here, they are more
beautiful there.
Beside that, it is more healthy there for
you than here, aged man; better climate
there than these hot summers and cold
winters and late springs; better hearing
better eye-sight; more tonic in the air;
more perfume in the bloom; more sweet
ness in the song. Do you not feel, aged
man, sometimes, as though you would
like to get your arm and foot free? Do
you notfeel as though you would like to
throw away spectacles and canes and
crutchesa Would you not like to feel the
spring and elasticity and mirth of an
eternal boyhood! When the point at
which you start from this world is old
age, and the point to which you go is
eternal juvenescence, aged man, clap
your hands at the anticipation, and say in
perfect rapture of soul:
The time of my departure is at hand.
remark, again, all these ought to feel
this Joy of the text who have a holy
curiosity TO know what is beyond this
earthly terminus. And who has not any
curiosity about it? Paul, suppose, had
the most satisfactory view of Heaven, and
he says:
"It doth not yet appear what we shall
be-"
1t is like looking through a broken
telescope: "Now we see through glass
darkly."
Can you tell me any thing about that
heavenly placel You ask me a thousand
questions about it that can not answer.
ask you q thousand questions about it
that you can not answer And do you
wonder that Paul was so glad when